Wellness day for Students & Staff

This school year, our local High School hosted a new event called “Wellness Day.” Two days on the calendar are dedicated to the health and well-being of the students and staff. The goal is fun!

Laughter, play-time, and just having fun offers a necessary release of both physical and emotional stress that cannot be released in quite the same way as by lecture or listening. What better goal can be made?

The events offered on wellness day include hiking, board games, trivia, music, movies & popcorn, reading, quiet time, art, athletics, lego-building, and even jumping at a trampoline park! Students pick their top choices for activities and are then organized into groups according to size of each activity.

My son’s experience

In the Fall, my son was invited to participate in Wellness day. Even though he only attends two classes at the high school (he studies his core classes in our homeschool), he was included! He enjoyed this day so much! He participated in an hour session of each; 90’s name-that-tune, Star-Wars trivia, and board games. Between the sessions, he could grab coffee and donuts at various stations throughout the halls. It was a refreshing day with friends and staff, meeting new people, trying new things, and above all, having fun.

During the Spring semester, my son went to the second wellness day, and he built Lego creations in the cafeteria for the morning. Legos is on the top of his list for “favorite things to do!” Being able to build with friends that you’ve worked along-side with for weeks in the classroom is a gift that is hard to replicate, especially at the teen level. This is the ultimate hang out (or “play date” as they used to be called).

Hang out with friends

When my kiddos were little, the “play date” was the highlight of the week or the month! Now, that my kids aren’t so little, we’ve outgrown the term “play date,” but, we haven’t outgrown the concept. I’m very thankful they still play! At age 15, my boy still plays with his younger siblings often and comes along to play with friends even younger than them. But for him, being able to play with peers in a “safe space” is top-level fun!

“Safe Space”

Let me unpack “safe space” for a moment. As parents, we want our kids to have good friends that motivate them to kindness, goodness, and truth. It’s not easy to find these friends (even as an adult). When the staff at your high school wants your child to have good, old-fashioned fun with friends at the school and organizes an event to make that happen, you can feel more at ease about the activity.

Discipling your child in the values of God’s Word, loving as Christ loves, will build in them a framework for beliefs and decision-making. As they follow after Christ’s values, then you can trust your child will choose to “hang” with friends of good character. Again, you can feel at ease about these activities of wellness day; a safe space for super fun!

Good Friends

Are you concerned that your teen will “hang” with good friends? Have you talked with your teen about their friends? Have you asked them to share stories of what happened in the day? If the stories aren’t free-flowing, ask questions that give your kiddo the opportunity to share and maybe even unburden a problem or an issue that’s weighing on them.

Our teens are navigating difficult waters in high school. No matter if they’re just dipping in their toe or diving in head first, they are learning so many elements of life while growing into adulthood.

It’s quite the transition period. They are learning what’s perceived to be cool and not cool, how to converse with friends and not make it weird, when it’s funny and when it’s “too much,” how to read people, how to keep up with classwork and expectations, and so much more.

How can I, as an adult who’s been through those teenage years, be there for my kid?

Wellness for the Community

I’m so grateful that our local high school has started on an endeavor to promote wellness for the students and staff. The school has expanded their Student Support office, and they have initiated a new student club called WORTH. WORTH helps organize wellness day. The WORTH club is part of our community’s local wellness advocate, Arukah Institute. Arukah offers many important services, especially to rural, mid-western communities like mine.

Wellness is not only important for the students and staff of schools, but also for families and our local communities. Where do we start? How do we encourage wellness? Maybe in the local church, or the young mom’s group? The book club or the local library? Maybe the local gym? Where can it all begin? These are great questions.

Conclusion

I firmly believe the family unit is the breeding ground for values and belief. This is a foundational reason that our family homeschools. What we teach in our home will become what our children believe and naturally build their lives upon. May we pour a solid foundation!

What if the strong foundations created in the family unit can have a positive and healthy influence on the community? What would happen to our communities? Our schools? Our churches? Our neighborhoods?

I’m so thankful that our local high school offers Wellness Day to our students at the local high school. It supports our teens and our families by offering something practical, caring, and altogether FUN!

**Special Note about WORTH!**

WORTH is offering some great videos to local schools. This program is a “Video-based Teen Mental Health & Substance Use Program.” Find out more at their website: www.arukahinstitute.org/worth-series.

WORTH has also created a local club organized at our high school. In addition to supporting the student body, they put together some family events throughout the school year. Check out their promo video from “Meeting of the Minds.” (That’s my son in the video!! Isn’t he adorable?!)

Do you have answers to some of these questions and topics? Do you have more questions about helping your teenager? Let’s ask them together! Please comment below. I’d love to hear from you.

Keep Walking Friend,

Christina